Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Back in June Harry and the Retreaters called the Iraq conflict lost and for all to pack it up and head home. Those with intelligence said, “Let’s wait, after all, General Petraeus has a report due in September”. Since that time — although the MSM refused to report on it — the success of the surge has been leaking out. Now in of all places the Ny Times, we get this report:

“Viewed from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with…”

His quote from NYT is much longer than that, but this snip gives you the positive note on which it was written. He goes on to say:

The article was written by Michael O’Hallen and Ken Pollack of the Brookings Institute who just visited the region, they report as many others that there has been progress — significant progress — and that the surge is working.

How Harry and the Retreaters must feel now, after resolution after resolution of defeatist moves to run away from Iraq — from the terrorists, not — I might add — for necessity, but purely to bow to their antiwar uber liberal base. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, anyone who calls for retreat from Iraq spits on the memory of every soldier who has given their ultimate to the success of the mission in Iraq.

You’ll remember that I told readers a month ago that the reason Harry and the Retreaters were carping about getting out of Iraq is that they knew that the surge just might work. Nothing could be more embarrassing or disastrous to Democrats in 2008 than a stable — reasonability stable — Iraq.

Over the weekend as you know the Ny Times story by the liberal Brookings Institute showed that significant progress has been made in Iraq since the surge began. Of course liberals attacked the messenger — as they always do — trying to play down the significance, even calling into question the “liberality” of the authors.

Yet today we have even more. Yesterday, Hugh Hewitt interviewed Pulitzer Prize winner John Burns of the Ny Times who says the surge is working. Even Rep. Keith Ellison, fresh off his embarrassing — though fully intentional — gaff of comparing Bush with Hitler, after visiting Sheiks (debriefing alert) can’t say anything other than the surge is working, Al Qaeda is on the run.

So what does this mean for Democrats? What is going to happen in September when Petraeus comes back and reports that progress has been made? According to their Majority Whip James Clyburn, it could be disastrous.

[…]

Now I’m going to tell you right off the bat that when Petraeus gives his report the left — specifically the uber left — will attack the general’s integrity, as lefty ambulance chaser Glenn Greenwald already has. Look for it, although the mainstream democrats will avoid that, nevertheless it will provide interesting drama.

Specifically with the Clinton/Obama dynamic. Obama has already sold out to the “Bush lied, people died” crowd and it’s basically his only appeal at this point. Hillary on the other hand is still playing “hawk”, at least on her initial vote for the war, which will leave her some wiggle room when the report shows that things might just work out after all.

In any case the Democrats have a problem on their hands and it’s all self inflicted.

As soon as I read the NYT article, I knew that we could forecast blood in the Senate in September when General Petraeus shows up with his report. First, there will be a “kill the messenger” attempt, which the General will side-step. Then there will be cries from the MSM, et al, that the surge is too little, too late.

The anti-war section of the Democrat party cannot afford to have Iraq succeed. There will be the same attempts at sabotage as there were when the troops secured Baghdad.

Wait and see.

Meanwhile, read Mac’s Mind for his embedded links, which I have not copied here. And there is a good post on our Crippled Intel.

Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal.

According to reports, in addition to the fighter jets, Teheran also plans to purchase a number of aerial fuel tankers that are compatible with the Sukhoi and capable of extending its range by thousands of kilometers. Defense officials said the Sukhoi sale would grant Iran long-range offensive capabilities.

IntelliBriefs says that Israel and the US complained about the sale, but I’m not sure what there is to worry about, unless it is also selling Russian jet pilots to go along with these sophisticated planes. Iran is having a hard time keeping up its infrastructure and it got rid of all those superbly trained pilots a generation ago. Does the billion dollar price tag include personnel or training for the two aircraft?

The Sukhoi-30 is a two-seat multi-role fighter jet and bomber capable of operating at significant distances from home base and in poor weather conditions. The aircraft enjoys a wide range of combat capabilities and is used for air patrol, air defense, ground attacks, enemy air defense suppression and air-to-air combat.

Like the sale of the jdams to Saudi Arabia by the US, one has to wonder if there are sufficiently-trained personnel capable of using the armaments. We’re not talking IEDs here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Leaving aside the economics of the situation, would any military readers care to discuss the ramifications of American and Russian sales of military supplies to various factions in the Middle East?

Saudi Arabia on paper has one of the most formidable armed forces in the world. However they haven’t a clue in how to keep all that equipment in working order.

And as such has one of the most expensive scrap yards in the region.

Iran which acquitted itself very well against Iraq in the air using American planes. Hasn’t the expertise or the pilots (or the fuel) in which to keep such an expensive folly in the air. Let’s be honest here. Any airwave approaching from Iran (or Syria for that matter) will last approximately 2 minutes due to the active nature of the Israeli missile defensive system. (Mind you when Hezbollah flew that UAV over Israel last year it transpired that the Arrow missile system guarding that area had been switched off)

But with Su 30s in Iranian hands I can’t see that happening. Regional defence then yes the plane has the home advantage. Attacking Israel then it will lose big time.

New York City has decided to use the city’s taxes to build a madrassa in Brooklyn.

Well, they don’t actually call it a “madrassa”, any more than the EU calls its new governing authority a “constitution”.

The Department of Education calls it the “Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA)”. It will be a new public school that will teach Arabic history, culture, and language.

And we all know where the textbooks and curricular materials come from. There are very few resources for Arabic and Muslim education in this country that are not funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Yet Mayor Bloomberg and the school authorities want everybody to go back to sleep.

“Trust us,” they say. “This is just another public school. Everything will turn out just fine. And by the way, I have a nifty little parcel of Florida swampland you might want to pick up while you’re at it…”

And now it turns out that the principal of the new school, Dhabah Almontaser, is directly linked to the folks that are selling these attractive and fashionable T-shirts. “Intifada NYC”! What could be more cool and hip and peace-in-our time than that?

Arabic for uprising. Starting in 1987, Palestinians have engaged in an intermittent intifada against Israel on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in their pursuit of a Palestinian state.

So “Intifada NYC” means… what? An uprising in New York City — against whom? or an uprising against Israel, but in New York City? Your guess as good as ours. Here’s what we know — this slogan and logo are this summer’s big publicity campaign for that website that is also listed on the t-shirt: awaam.org .

Pamela Hall of Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition will be on Glenn Beck tonight, Tuesday July 31 — at 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm EDT on Headline Prime, CNN. Everyone should tune in to see how the issue is treated there in the belly of the beast.

According to news site The Local, a judge who hears migration appeals had his house vandalized by left-wing extremists. Threats were sprayed on the walls, red paint was poured over the steps and an axe was left outside his home. “When a judge in a Swedish court has his home vandalised in this way, it is of course very serious,” said Ingvar Paulsson, head of the Gothenburg District Administrative Court . The group Antifascistisk Action (AFA) writes on its homepage that the attack was motivated by the situation of Iraqi asylum seekers. The Swedish Board of Migration has ruled that they should be deported if they cannot show that a threat exists against them personally.

It should be noted here that Sweden alone in 2006 accepted almost as many asylum applications from Iraqis as all other European countries did combined. Native Swedes, who live in a country that was one of the most ethnically homogeneous nations in the world only 30 years ago, will be a minority in their own country within a few decades, if current trends continue. Sweden is self-destructing at a pace that is probably unprecedented in history, but for the extreme Left, even this isn’t fast enough.

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AFA openly brag about numerous attacks against persons who get their full name and address published on their website. According to them, this is done in order to fight against capitalist exploitation and for a global, classless society. Their logic goes something like this: If you protest against Muslim immigration, you suffer from Islamophobia, which is almost the same as xenophobia, which is almost the same as racism. And racists are almost Fascists and Nazis, as we all know, and they shouldn’t be allowed to voice their opinions in public. Hence, if you protest against being assaulted or raped by Muslims, you are evil and need to be silenced. If a native Swede is really lucky, he or she will thus first get mugged or battered by Muslims, and then beaten up a second time by his own extreme Leftists for objecting to being beaten the first time. The state does next to nothing to prevent either, of course. Native Swedes who object to a mass immigration that will render them a minority in their own country within a couple of generations have already been classified as “racists,” and racists are for all practical purposes outside of the protection of the law.

[…]

The wave of robberies the city of Malmö is experiencing is part of a “war against the Swedes.” This is the explanation given by young robbers from immigrant backgrounds. “When we are in the city and robbing we are waging a war, waging a war against the Swedes.” This argument was repeated several times. “Power for me means that the Swedes shall look at me, lie down on the ground and kiss my feet. We rob every single day, as often as we want to, whenever we want to.” Swedish authorities have done virtually nothing to stop this.

[…]

In a country where the tax rate is above 60%, higher than in almost any other country on the planet save perhaps North Korea - which incidentally also has almost as much free speech as Sweden - the natives are attacked on a daily basis by immigrant gangs, yet the state seems unwilling to do anything to stop this. Although Muslims openly brag about targeting Jews and Christians, this doesn’t constitute a hate crime. But is does constitute racism and a hate crime if Muslims are not presented with halal sausages at all times or allowed to wear a burka wherever they want to.

[…]

The British author Paul Weston believes that Britain’s national heart has ceased beating: “Our national soul is hovering indecisively above the operating table. The crash team have been called, but the politically inclined hospital switchboard have told them there is no problem, that everything is under control. The life support boys have heard otherwise, they are hurrying to get there, but other hospital staff members have switched the signage to the operating theatre and killed the lights. It is a big hospital, they only have minutes to get there, they are lost, confused, misinformed, and the clock is relentlessly ticking, and ticking, and ticking…”

I’m inclined to say the same thing about Sweden. The Swedish nation is currently on its deathbed. We can only hope there is life after death after all.

Go over to Brussels Journal for the rest of the details. But don’t expect to be cheered up by anything you find there.

Monday, July 30, 2007

I found this anonymous letter recently, reproduced on an Italian blog called “Penelope alla guerra.” As you can see the letter is not recent, but the situation has not improved in the meantime. If anything, it has gotten worse.

Mark the optimism with which, at the end, the writer speaks of our government (at the time the centre-right one headed by Silvio Berlusconi). My opinion then was that Berlusconi simply managed the catastrophe of illegal immigration without doing anything to actually solve the problem.

With the present left-wing government things are worse.

Note: The punctuation is this letter is erratic, but I left it as it was because it reflects the writer’s deep anguish.

Ciao, all the best,

Minerva

This letter must reach everyone; spread it around as much as possible…

Milan, September 11 ’04

Saturday afternoon September 11 2004. In front of my house there is a mosque of sorts, or rather there’s a building where practically only Muslims live and they’ve set up a room for prayers, they’re all dressed in white, they’re celebrating… yes they’re celebrating September 11, they usually never meet on Saturdays but on Fridays so this is a special day, they’re celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers, they celebrate the massacre that is still vivid in my eyes and in anybody’s eyes…- - - - - - - - - -A poll has found out that anyone interviewed today remembers perfectly where he was and what he was doing on September 11 2001 at the precise moment when the two towers fell… showing how much we were traumatized.

They celebrate…

But shouldn’t these be the moderate Muslims? The ones who aren’t terrorists and who want to integrate, the ones who aren’t here to take away our freedom but to share it?

Bulls**t, Bulls**t, Bulls**t.

They aren’t terrorists because they don’t have the courage of their kamikaze buddies but they totally approve their choices, the kidnappings, the slaughter of children, anything feasible to make Europe understand that we are falling under a dictatorship worse than any Italy has ever undergone.

I’ll read to you what they write: European women are a shame! They must be re-educated. Muslim women have no schooling, they don’t work, their only task is to have children… they’re considered as much as animals, maybe worse, they’re even beaten.

I am an anesthesiologist and I see lots and lots of women give birth, lately most of them are Muslim, their husbands don’t come into the delivery room, it is not allowed by their religion and even before our request for help at least to provide some translation they REFUSE if she must die it’s Allah who wants it… so these poor girls (even if they do nothing to change the situation) don’t understand a word of Italian, they suffer like beasts, we tell them to push and they don’t understand, to move, to walk, to stop and they don’t understand, the situation gets complicated and we almost always practice a caesarean. They breed and breed, they must outnumber us within a generation.

At this rate they will succeed… once we are a minority we won’t be able to rebel any more, we’ll wear the burqa, we’ll take down our crucifixes and our freedom will be lost forever… Our politicians don’t deal with the problem, frightened like all of us by these people who are not afraid to die, are not afraid to fight and above all have a precise plan.

Let’s show at least to our government, to the state, to those who have the power to stop this situation that we WANT IT, we want to struggle to get our Italy back, our freedom, to be able to send our children to school without having to withdraw them because the class is attended by too many immigrant children who don’t speak Italian and slow down not to say block our children’s program… So that all it’s left for us to do is pay for public schools and pay all over again for private schools for our children.

Too wrong…

We must stop this situation, stop the clandestine arrivals from the sea of illegal immigrants, hundreds a day and adopt a less moderate less peaceful behaviour towards Muslims, because they for first are the racists against us, they want to change us…

We must take away the peace flags and hang the Italian flag from our houses! A MESSAGE THAT WILL REACH THE EYES OF OUR GOVERNMENT a flag symbol of freedom, of our motherland and of the trust we must have in our government so that things may change.

Thank you for the effort you took to write us about an important issue. As I said in a recent post, there is definitely power in the names or labels we assign to ourselves and one another.

The meta-argument you make, which is that conservative bloggers could change the course of the national conversation by changing the labels we use, assigns to us far more power than we could ever have to engender such a fundamental alteration. Not only that, we would have to preface every discussion by explaining what we mean by “socialist” and why we don’t employ the more commonly used phrase “left” or “liberal” - even though these are the designations that those who assume those positions assign to themselves. Many would be insulted by “socialist”; some simply wouldn’t get it.

It is a surprise to have a liberal reader who does not vilify us. In blogs written by those who favor people like Barak Obama, Cindy Sheehan, or for those who read Daily Kos, we are called “Bacon” and “Lymph Node.” Our blog is called “The Darkies Are Coming”…- - - - - - - - - -Vitriolic ad hominem attacks which never address the content of our posts are the usual fare. James Wolcott, from Vanity Fair, calls himself a liberal and he votes Democratic. He has ridiculed our blog in scatological terms for our philosophy - and that philosophy can most usefully be described as conservative. I say “usefully” because the majority of people understand the word “conservative” in the sense we use it; the only difference is whether they consider it complimentary or pejorative.

Our son spent four years at college getting spittle on the front of his shirt if he questioned the liberal party line. Students who identified themselves as Democrats went into a frenzy when they learned he was not in agreement with their assessment of what they called “conservative s**t”. In fact, during his middle school years, at a Quaker institution he attended on scholarship, he and one history teacher were the only voices of conservatism in the whole school. The others did not self-identify as socialists and would have had no idea what he was talking about had he used the term. They called themselves “liberal” and their general dismissal for those who did not tow the party line was, “you suck.” These were the children of the very wealthy and they held the poor in contempt even while they supported government funded programs to “help” the underclass.

At work, I lived in a liberal world — again, self-defined. People did not call themselves socialists, and, like my son’s peers would have argued the point had they been so designated. These adults, like the school children, believed in large government programs, higher taxes to fund them, abortion without limits, and “gender equality” which included a large dose of hostile, anti-male feminism that I found unpleasant and intellectually sterile.

People choose the names/labels/points of view that they think fit them. The media puts its own gloss on those names. Thus, there are “left-wing activists” and “right wing extremists.” Somehow, Cindy Sheehan has never made it to the “extremist” position in the MSM.

I have edited books for people who define their own political views as “left of center.” Even though their books were not about politics at all, there would nonetheless be de rigueur political jibes aimed at Republicans and conservatives. These would be just stuck into the manuscript for no other apparent reason than to vent their spleen about, say, Margaret Thatcher — many years after her exit from office. It would be like pulling teeth to get them to remove these irrelevant gems.

Even those who write fiction indulge in this reflexive mean-spiritedness. They obviously assume the vast majority of their readers will agree with them. Read Tony Hillerman and you’ll find at least two anti-Republican remarks per book. In contrast, I’ve not found anything positive about the Democrats in his work, just this mandatory conservative-bashing.

In Robert Parker’s mystery novels the villains are often extremist or fundamentalist Christians. They are portrayed as both stupid and ignorant, prejudiced, and socially evil. Otherwise, regarding religion, Mr. Parker is silent about matters spiritual. In the world he creates in his books, it is as though religion didn’t exist. I like the stylistic nature of his novels and continue to read them, but I do notice the bright thread of contempt for Christians he weaves into his stories.

These are just some examples of a pervasive mindset. This phenomenon is an interesting characteristic of many people who are “left of center”: they do not begin by describing what they are for, or what they value. Instead, they use vitriol and ad hominem attacks against those who disagree with their world view. That seems to be their version of a level playing field - i.e., one that has been leveled and cleansed of anything they find disagreeable.

As far as “political correctness” goes, I do not see this label being used to squelch anything but the viewpoints of conservatism. And the people wielding these bludgeons do not consider themselves socialists, Marxists or Communists - unless you factor in the academics, who do indeed understand the truth of what you say. But they also know the negative effect that using these designations publicly would have on their cause; thus such labels are often veiled in public discourse by those who hold the socialist or marxist views you describe.

I do not agree that the countries of the Anglosphere are “about finished.” These are the bright spots of robust economies, active electorates, and a strong sense of identity. We are currently experiencing an unprecedented wave of global migrations fueled by a mixture of hope and envy and the desire for freedom, not to mention the need to find a safe, orderly place for their children. These mass movements of people have created a kind of disjointedness that will take time to resolve. The old solutions do not work, but new syntheses have not yet been created which can effectively address the problems created by our technology — successes that make us a Mecca (so to speak) for those who cannot survive the corrupt, failed states into which they are born.

If, as you say, there are many liberals who visit our website, they are not much in evidence. Occasionally one shows up to excoriate us for our point of view, and liberal websites link to us for ad hominem vitriol, but none have appeared to join in any honest debate of the issues.

It is the common experience of many conservatives that it is better to keep one’s political views private. Liberal friends simply presume we think like they do. And if we explain that we do not and have sound reasons for our conclusions, their animosity becomes overt.

It is not our purpose to change anyone’s mind. We exist to provide a forum for those who are concerned about the exponential spread of government, the dangerous situation Israel faces, and the cancerous growth of Islamists bent on our destruction and the establishment of a fascist Utopia they call the Ummah.

This Airbus 340 aircraft was “remodeled” in Waco . Yes, the sinks are solid gold and one of them is Lalique crystal. The Sultan bought the aircraft for roughly $100M; had it flown to Waco, brand-new, had the interior completely removed; and had the folks at E-Systems (now Raytheon) install $120M worth of improvements inside and outside.

Among the improvements are all those lavish fittings you see in the photos, including the (reportedly) gold fixtures in the bathroom.

What happened to his private, luxurious A-340 or B-777 (all decked out with gold poopers and seating for ten people)?

It’s in the shop being remodeled. The poopers are now being replaced with swiveling models that can be turned to face away from Mecca when the plane is on certain routes. Until now the plane often had to change course during pooping, which led to trouble with the aviation authorities.

LN is not only notoriously indifferent to sourcing his material with links, he’s also fond of pulling my leg. I’ve googled my fingertips raw trying to verify his story, but with no luck so far. So we’ll just have to take his word for it.

If it’s not true, it oughta be. To quote the late John Gardner (from memory, in The Wreckage of Agathon — y’all correct me if I get it wrong), “Since the truth is ultimately unknowable, what matters is not what is true, but what is entertaining.”

One V-E-R-Y B-I-G PROBLEM, however. EVERY time you identify this movement of fighting the Islamicization of the West and the related demographic suicide of the West as something only “conservatives” see or something that is based in “the right” or “conservatism” — YOU ALIENATE H-U-G-E numbers of people who otherwise share the same ideas and beliefs as you do.

I myself am a LIBERAL. Does it matter? Absolutely NOT. The criticisms (e.g. “political correctness” and dhimmitude and lack of understanding of Islam AND their own Western culture…) you level at so-called “liberals” and the “left” are FULLY valid. But, you know what? Most people who consider themselves to be Conservatives in this world are also hindered by exactly those same things (e.g. “political correctness” and dhimmitude and lack of understanding of Islam AND their own Western culture…).

The Brussels Journal, for example, identifies its site as “The Voice of Conservatism in Europe”. See this google search.

And I’ve seen many bloggers on sites who go fully unchallanged (not my job…I already spend enough of my time writing about these issues. I don’t need to spend it in a useless battle over “liberal” “conservative”. Anyway, as a “liberal” myself, any “conservative” is far more likely to listen to another “conservative” or the editor of one of these otherwise EXCELLENT blogs when that “conservative” tells them this is N-O-T “conervative” or “liberal” issue.)

Take this September 11th meeting EU protest coming up in Brussels. Read the website and they understand that people involved and concerned about these things come from ALL stripes — politically, nationally, religiously, etc. The time now in Europe and the US is critical. We are A-L-L going over the edge. If you and the core group that met in Denmark actually want to do something to gather critical mass you need to do two (2) things: 1) you need to stop (and revise or remove…) your comments in you websites that identify any of this as some exclusively “conservative” movement; 2) you need to relabel and change the way you address the left and “liberals” — instead of using “liberals” or “left” use the words “Marxist” or “Socialist” or “Communists”.

The problem here is “political correctness” and ALL of the ways that “political correctness” pervades ALL of our entire decision making processes — whether for “conservatives” or for “liberals”. The problem here is the indoctrination we have all received over our Western lives that causes us to put away “freedom of expression” whenever it concerns someone not like us and offers economic reasons for lack of development and poverty (as opposed to RELIGIOUS and the cultures that arise from each religion…) and then which, at the same time, is also hostile to religion…most specifically Christianity. Yes, those “economic reasons” arise in the left in Marxism, but, NO, after 150 years, these ideas even determine how an average “conservative” thinks.

Europe, the West, and the Anglo-American countries are truly about finished. I just spent two hours reading Swedish newspapers and press releases. They’ve taken in 95,500 immigrants this year. It’s a record. You read the articles and there is ABSOLUTELY NO DFEBATE…and NONE ALLOWED in Sweden. Everything in the papes is ROSY stories that are self-imposed propaganda. That country is really lost. Meanwhile the average person there (as anywhere) is fed up with immigration…yet the politicians and human services people call anyone who gives their opinion a “racist” or “xenophobe”. It’s really horrible. That country — along with many others — are LOST.

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So the point is this. We who care about these things come from ALL stripes. Hell, there are even immigrants who are saying SHUT the damn doors. All of the sites I named above REALLY MUST remove things and also challenge bloggers who want to paint “liberals” and the “left” as idiots. Personally, I’m not offended, because I know what you are trying to say; but I can say most “liberals” would NOT take the same view. You need us. We need you. We ALL need each other if we are to even COME CLOSE to closing the door. Remove the language in your headers and titles that claim things like the “voice of Conservatism”. When bloggers on your page hammer “liberals” or the “left” take them to taks ALWAYS and point out that there are many liberals (like me) who visit and write on your websites — and teach them to focus their blasting of “liberals” instead on “Marxists”, “Socialists”, “Communists”, etc. Use those words instead. If you don’t, 50% of people out there will never take your websites or writing …OR THIS IMMENSELY IMPORTANT ISSUE… seriously. You M-U-S-T quit characterizing “conservatives” as the people who have all the answers or who are the only people “in the right” on this. If you can’t do that simple thing…and make sure it is reflected in your blog and your responses to bloggers’ comments, well, what we all know and see is happening right now…is, in fact, far, far worse than done.

Please make sure to pass this on to your colleagues at all of the above named websites. This really has to be addressed in an organized and methodical fashion and be paid attention to EVERY day. Otherwise, as I said, it is TRULY finished. People who call themselves “conservative” CAN NOT and WILL NOT be able to do this alone. Merely by playing the “convervative”/”liberal” and “right”/”left” cards you IMMEDIATELY discredit EVERY issue of concern here AND then alientate the support of HALF of the people we A-L-L WILL AND DO NEED. Thank you.

B. HillsUSA

Here is my response:

Ms. Hills,

I think that you may not have been reading Gates of Vienna very long. There are some peculiar factual errors in your note — for instance, nowhere on our blog do we say that we are the “voice of Conservatism”. I presume you’re confusing us with one of the other blogs you mention.

Even though we ridicule the left and take it to task, we don’t view it as a monolith. Although I am a conservative, I have often said that the Counterjihad is not — or shouldn’t be — solely a conservative project.

Take, for example, a Gates of Vienna post from last December, in which I featured the anti-jihad comments of an Anarchist. After quoting my Anarchist colleague, I wrote this:

I’ve been saying for a while now that it’s wrong — and counterproductive — to write off the entire Left. Christopher Hitchens and Nat Hentoff are not the only ones who understand what’s important.

Anti-jihad leftists are in the same bind as “moderate” Muslims — they are vilified, ostracized, and threatened because of their heresy. A heretical leftist may get to keep his head, but he will likely find his property destroyed and his career ruined because of his apostasy.

So it’s important to extend a hand to anyone who — without any socialist taqiyyah — genuinely wants to defeat the Great Islamic Jihad.

The problem for the Left is not that it is reviled by conservatives — which it is, often with good reason — but what it does to itself. The core of the Left has made opposition to Islamism a heresy. This is not something that conservatives made them do; they chose to do it themselves. Look at Joe Lieberman if you want an object lesson in how the Left treats its apostates.

And I’ll remind you that if you work for the media, or in education, or in Social Services, and if you want to keep your job and your friends, it would be a good idea to keep your Counterjihad opinions to yourself.

And that is the fault of the Left, not the Right.

“Liberalism” has lost its original meaning, and modern conservatism is what used to be known as “classical liberalism”.

Modern liberalism — the ideology that calls itself “liberalism” in the United States today — supports separate and unequal rights for women under Islam in the name of Multiculturalism. This liberalism is now undercutting our support for democracies overseas, arguing against supporting resistance movements in Iran, for example.

Again, liberalism supports fascism as long as it is Islamic.

This isn’t Marxism or Communism then that is masked as liberalism; it is the fascism of the Left.

When today’s “liberalism” cut its moorings with classical liberalism and became relativistic (not on religion, but on the rights of the individual), it lost its intellectual foundation.

And this makes it vulnerable to any tyranny, masked as the rights of oppressed people, that opposes the United States.

But it seems that you’re becoming a conservative, and we like you for that.

Fortunately, an individual moral revulsion against the fascism of Islam is having the same effect around the world.

The Bush administration will be asking Congress to approve a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf states despite the concerns of some U.S. officials that the Saudis have been hampering U.S. efforts in Iraq...

The size of the proposed package, which would include advanced weaponry, has made Israel and its supporters in Congress “nervous”... The administration is expecting Israeli supporters and Saudi critics in Congress to oppose the deal when it is formally presented to Congress this fall.

To resolve these concerns, the administration has promised Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, and is asking the Saudis to accept restrictions on the “range, size and location of the satellite-guided bombs” and to agree not to store the weapons near Israeli territory…

Do not run screaming from the room just yet…- - - - - - - - - -Yes, the Saudis are a corrupt bunch. Yes, it does appear that we are arming our enemies, those truly evil Wahhabists who have sewn such destruction in the world. The first thought of a reasonable person has to be: “is Bush out of his mind?”

Actually people have been asking some variation on that question for some time now. However, in this case, Ed Lasky at The American Thinker has a bit of history and a lot of strategy for us to consider.

First of all the details: these sales also involve other Middle Eastern countries. Mr. Lasky calls them “allies” but for most Americans - including me - thinking of Egypt as an ally is a hard concept to get one’s mind around. And he reminds us that Israel has not been left out of the equation. They will receive even more military aid than the others over the ten year period.

But Mr. Lasky wants us to examine the ingredients in this sausage the U. S. is making:

This move [massive arms sales] is being taken in reaction to the provocative steps Iran has taken by not only continuing its nuclear program, but also by being the arms supplier to Syria, Hezb’allah, and insurgents in Iraq. Iran has also been making huge purchases of arms from Russia. Iran has also laid claim to various islands in the Persian Gulf (the Arab nations call this waterway the “Arab Gulf”) and has pressured the smaller nations that line the Persian Gulf to accept Iranian suzerainty over the area.

So Iran is the reason. This is about strategy. What of the history? Well, Mr. Lasky invokes President Reagan’s moves in bringing down the Soviet Union:

The fear of the Sunnis that the Shiite arc in the Middle East is strengthening is also an element in trying to assuage Sunni Arab concerns by expanding arm deliveries to them. However, one other tactic might be at work-and it is one that helped to bring down the Soviet Union. When President Reagan was briefed that the Soviet economy was weak, he undertook a massive military expansion-hoping to bring the Soviet Union’s economy to its knees since he suspected their economy would not be able to match the American build-up in arms and would “go broke” while trying.

In sum, it may not be as bad an idea as it first appears. After all, the sale stretches over ten years. It may be that just a few years down the road things will have changed and the need for shoring up anti-Iran will not seem so compelling. On the other hand, change in Middle East seems as though it does not occur in human terms - it’s more like geological time over there. However, let us bear in mind the fact that The Wall is history; how many of us ever expected to see the fall of the Soviet Union in our lifetime?

Thus, it is well worth your time to read the rest of Mr. Lasky’s brief essay and ponder his view of the situation. Just reading his description of Iran’s current condition offers hope.

Dan Riehl has been following the TNR debacle quite thoroughly. Scroll down through his posts to learn that the mystery soldier is married to a staff person at The New Republic.

Discover the real name of this military journalist sap, and look at some of his former blog entries. Hint: “Integrity” is not his middle name.

Finally, follow Dan’s link to Howard Kurtz at WaPo. Foer, TNR’s editor, is quoted as complaining that his writer has:

“…lost his lifeline to the rest of the world” because military officials have taken away his laptop, cellphone and e-mail privileges.

Poor baby. These horrible events he witnessed: scarred women, dogs run over by soldiers, men doubled over in laughter at mass graves... No doubt all these are seared, seared into his memory.

This guy is in doo-doo so deep that you have to wonder at his intellectual capacity. Did he really think no one would check his credibility? Does he live in a moonbat bubble, even in Iraq?

Be sure to read all of Dan’s reports on the now-outed Scott Thomas. And pay attention to Dan’s ideas about this person’s motivation. Aside from being resentful that he is a poor viktim of the rigid imperial military, I mean. So far he hasn’t claimed to have been drafted, but that may be next.

The boy’s out for notoriety and bucks. Which the not so gentle pacifists will give him in great abundance. This is the new anti-war poster boy. What Kerry did for Vietnam, “Scott Thomas” will do for Iraq. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

After putting a hand to your mouth to conceal a smirk and stifle a guffaw, you’d say, “Oh, c’mon, Baron! Don’t be ridiculous — we all know you’re straight. You have a wife and a child. Besides, you’re infamous in certain circles as a man with an eye for a well-turned ankle.”

“What are you talking about? I simply mean that I’m feeling light-hearted and happy-go-lucky.”

“That’s not what ‘gay’ means.”

“Sure it does. Here, look at the dictionary: ‘1. Excited with merriment, manifesting sportiveness or delight… 2. Bright and lively in appearance…’”

“That’s the 1921 edition of Webster’s Unabridged!”

“So what? If it was good enough for my granddaddy, it’s good enough for me.”

“But the meaning of the word ‘gay’ has changed.”

“Really? What does it mean now?”

“‘Homosexual’.”

“Egad!”

“Baron, you need to get out more.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I concocted the above fantasy so that I can talk about jihad.

Recently a Muslim commenter here at Gates of Vienna left us a treatise on jihad. Here’s an excerpt from it:

Do you even know what Jihad means? Contrary to popular belief, its not a holy war to destroy other religions and to make Islam predominant. That kind of act is forbidden in Islam.

A Jihad is any Islamic act that is performed under dire circumstances.

Jihad i.e. the struggle to establish the just politico-socio-economic order ordained by the Creator of all humanity and given to mankind through his last Messenger Muhammad so as to bring peace and harmony in the world, should not be considered a bad thing.

This was after Dr. Ahmad had gotten himself in trouble with the Canadian TV network. But back before the kuffar were paying attention, this is what he had to say about jihad:

In the hour-long talk, Israr Ahmad said, “Jihad in the way of Allah, for the cause of Allah, can be pursued either with your financial resources or your bodily strength when you go to fight the enemy in the battlefield.

“So jihad, the highest form, is fighting in the cause of Allah.”

Young Muslims in Canada draw their inspiration from Hassan al-Banna, the founder of Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, more commonly known as the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Banna didn’t mince words in this meditation on jihad:- - - - - - - - - -

Islam is concerned with the question of jihad and the drafting and the mobilisation of the entire Umma into one body to defend the right cause with all its strength than any other ancient or modern system of living, whether religious or civil. The verses of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH) are overflowing with all these noble ideals and they summon people in general (with the most eloquent expression and the clearest exposition) to jihad, to warfare, to the armed forces, and all means of land and sea fighting.

To back up his assertions, he includes pages and pages of quotations from the Koran, the Hadith, and respected Islamic scholars. Then he has this to say:

Islam allows jihad and permits war until the following Qur’anic verse is fulfilled:

‘We will we show them Our signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’an) is the truth.’ (Surat al-Fussilat (41), ayah 53)

[…]

My brothers! The ummah that knows how to die a noble and honourable death is granted an exalted life in this world and eternal felicity in the next. Degradation and dishonour are the results of the love of this world and the fear of death. Therefore prepare for jihad and be the lovers of death. Life itself shall come searching after you.

My brother, you should know that one day you will face death and this ominous event can only occur once. If you suffer on this occasion in the way of Allah, it will be to your benefit in this world and your reward in the next.

It’s evident that at least some Muslims believe that the word “jihad” means “holy war”. So whose dictionary are we going to use?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I cite Hassan al-Banna on this topic because the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the most influential propagators of Islam today. The writings of al-Banna and his successor Sayyid Qutb inspire devout Muslims all over the world. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are both proselytizers for the Ikhwan and its literature.

The Muslim Brotherhood is now ascendant, having been granted recognition by the West through its surrogates in Hamas and its apologists here in the USA in organizations such as CAIR. By legitimizing these groups, the White House has done much of the legwork for theIkhwan.

Yet CAIR, the White House, the media, and all the other apologists for jihad are the first to tell us that Islam is peaceful, that jihad means “an inner struggle”, that a great religion has been hijacked by a handful of fanatics, yadda yadda yadda.

Coming from CAIR, this is taqiyya, or lying in the service of Allah.

But what is it when President Bush or Condoleezza Rice says it? Is it stupidity, or sedition, or ignorance, or some combination of these three?

Or is it some kind of sly misdirection required by the inscrutabilities of statecraft?

What do they really think jihad means?

Refutation by Redefinition

The disingenuous insistence by Islam and its apologists that “jihad does not mean holy war” is an example of what I call “refutation by redefinition”. An opponent is told, in effect, that his premise is wrong, that the named phenomenon does not exist, and that he is mistaken to describe the practice in such terms. In effect, the issue of violence in the name of Allah is redefined out of existence.

Thus, anyone who commits violence is not a “true Muslim” and is not practicing “true jihad”. The word does not mean these things, and people who act this way are not really part of the Ummah, so we may disregard them. For the purposes of argument, and airport security, and legislation, violent jihad does not exist.

The obfuscators for Islam are following a three-pronged strategy:

1.

“Jihad” does not mean “holy war”.

2.

Those who say it does are not really Muslims and have nothing to do with Islam.

3.

You, a mere kafir, are not qualified to judge these things. You are ignorant of the faith, and therefore your opinions constitute Islamophobia and may safely be ignored.

Helped along by a compliant media, this is a very effective strategy for Islam’s propagandists. In terms of the public discussion, jihad as an act of violence simply ceases to exist.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We must cut the Gordian knot concerning jihad, and refuse to consider any theoretical definitions of it.

It’s an irrefutable fact that thousands upon thousands of people are killed every year in the name of jihad. The people who do the killing consider their acts to be jihad. The “charities” that fund the slaughter believe they are following the dictates of the Koran and lending financial support to jihad. And millions — maybe more than a billion — of the Muslim faithful look on these actions with at least tacit approval, and consider them jihad.

If huge numbers of believers consider the wanton slaughter of innocents to be jihad, it doesn’t really matter how academics, diplomats, and editorial writers define the word. Usage is everything.

Was the language made for the dictionary, or the dictionary for the language?

Once enough people have established usage, the definition in the dictionary changes.

Whatever the former definition of “jihad” was, usage requires that it be thrown out and replaced with what Arabic speakers mean by the word: “Indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of unbelievers, with the aim of extending Islam.”

Darn. He sounded so good for awhile. Then Fred Thompson made a fatal mistake for anyone concerned with the infiltration of this country by Islamists. He hired Spencer Abraham as his campaign manager:

Although Abraham, of Lebanese descent, is a Christian, he is a career water carrier for Islamists of the most extremist stripe and made that the cornerstone of his failed, one-term Senate career and equally lousy tenure as Energy Secretary.

As a Senator, he took marching orders from James Zogby of the pan-Islamist Arab American Institute, opposing profiling of Arabs, the use of secret evidence against Muslims (at the behest of Muslim groups), attempting to repeal the Clinton counterterrorism package, refusing to fund computer tracking of student and other foreign aliens, giving millions in our tax money right to Hezbollah, and putting CAIR on the map on Capitol Hill (taking the group’s officials around to meet other Senators and Members of Congress). He took campaign contributions from the relatives of Hezbollah-backed top Lebanese officials after he got the group millions in our tax money.

It gets worse…- - - - - - - - - -

Spence was one of only two Senators in the entire U.S. Senate who refused to sign a letter calling on President Clinton to condemn Palestinian terrorism and Yasser Arafat. This was at the height of a series of homicide bombings in Israel in 1999 and 2000.

As Energy Secretary, he gave top secret tours of nuclear facilities, as well as detailed information on how we secure them to Muslim nations who are our enemies. And he gave out undue post-9/11 awards to Al-Qaeda money-launderers . . . at the White House. The money launderers were raided by U.S. Customs Service agents.

After he left the Bush cabinet, Spence became a lobbyist for Mid-Eastern Muslim countries that practice the Arab boycott of Israel and don’t really like us too much either. He took their money and until the Thompson race, did their bidding.

[…]

Then there’s Jamal Barzinji. Abraham enlisted him to find parties who helped and reached out to Muslims after 9/11, with Abraham hosting an awards ceremony for them. Problem is, Barzinji is an officer and/or director in SAFA Trust, Mar-Jac Poultry, and International Institute for Islamic Thought, all raided by Customs in March 2002 for laundering over $1.7 billion to Al-Quaida and Islamic Jihad (through indicted University of South Florida professor and alleged Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian).

Don Surber has a link to a family tale in Alarming News which serves to remind us why we’re so fortunate. This blogger is Russian-American. In a post from July 20th entitled “Sometimes I can’t believe it when I look up in the mirror,” she explains the origin of her name:

All Russian female names end in “A”. My grandmother was Sarra, her sister Raya. My other grandma was Antonina. My mom is Nina. Her sister is Gyala. So, when people meet me and learn I was born in the Soviet Union they ask “so what is your Russian name?” When I tell them that Karol is my name, in Russian, in English, in whatever language they choose, they are confused.

I tell them the story: My father got permission to leave Russia when my mother was pregnant with me. His mother and aunt were already in America and he had to go, it was the only hope for us all to leave.

Leaving the Soviet Union was unlike leaving most places. You were stripped of your citizenship and told you can never return. You were an enemy, even your friends might shun you. I think that was fine with my father, he was American before he ever set foot here. He was a freedom-loving Capitalist who loved rock&roll, wanted to see the world, practice medicine and raise his family. He wanted me to have an American name, so that when I reached this great country, no one would think of me as different. I would be American, by virtue of my name, almost immediately. He sent my mother a list of American names and she chose Karol. A Russian person may pronounce is Kyeh-ral. Of course, they couldn’t know that spelling it with a “K” would mark me as different, but in a good way, I think. It lets me never forget where I was born, that while I’m American, and so blessed to be here, I could’ve just as easily ended up spending my life in the place my father refers to as “prison” with a name like Masha, Inna, Katya or some variation thereof. It reminds me that I am lucky.

Today is 29 years that I’m in America.

May Karol-with-the-American-name continue to prosper.

Note: Click on her link and scroll down to see her childhood picture as a brand new citizen.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Given the Muslim outrage the last time the Pontiff said something substantive about the history of Islam and the West, it has fallen to his secretary to make public observations about what is going on:

Pope Benedict XVI’s private secretary warned of the Islamisation of Europe and stressed the need for the continent’s Christian roots not to be ignored.

“Attempts to Islamise the west cannot be denied,” Monsignor Georg Gaenswein was quoted as saying in the weekly Sueddeutsche Magazin to be published Friday.

“The danger for the identity of Europe that is connected with it should not be ignored out of a wrongly understood respectfulness,” the magazine quoted him as saying.

As if to underline his point about this decline in the West Venice, along with a little help from its friends in Paris and New York, is celebrating its long relationship with Islam:

For a thousand years Venice had a unique trading relationship with the great Muslim dynasties who shared their magnificent art and culture in a way that still defines the city today.

From the sumptuous silks, ceramics, carpets and gemstones sold by oriental traders to the Moorish architecture reflected in its elegant palaces and famous Basilica San Marco, the city has incorporated Islamic influences like few other cities in Italy.

Now Venice is celebrating its centuries-old relationship with the Islamic world in a vast exhibition which opens on 28 July.

[…]

The show is the result of collaboration between the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Musei Civici Veneziani.

[…]

“Venice was pushed by the Vatican to join the crusades, but always had a pragmatic approach,” Carboni (the curator) said. “The doges were always trying to mediate between the church and its Islamic neighbors.”

Capable of understanding and appreciating its achievements in the world of science and philosophy, the city also showed itself capable of establishing relations with the great Muslim dynasties of the Ayyubids, the Mamelukes and the Ottomans.

[…]

Carboni said the exhibition was particularly timely since there is so much misunderstanding in the world between east and west.

“If we can show that Venice had a relationship with the Middle East that was also positive, it’s a good message.”

Italy is fading into the Dhimmi dust. But you have to admit that at least Venice makes a beautiful corpse.

Word has finally percolated up to the management of VisionTV. They have belatedly discovered that Canadians in general, and their viewers in particular, do not approve of exhortations to jihad, nor anti-Semitism, nor calls for the Jews to be exterminated.

You can’t blame VisionTV for taking so long. After all, given today’s climate — especially in the progressive bastions of the media and the academy — the urge to exterminate the Jews is no big deal.

Not only that, the network’s mission statement says that it “celebrates diversity and promotes understanding among people of different faiths and cultures.” It doesn’t say anything about not killing Jews. So what’s the beef?

But VisionTV has decided to accede to the inexplicable and eccentric whims of its audience, and has taken “Doctor” Israr Ahmad off the air. For his part, Ahmad insists that he is not an anti-Semite, despite his assertions that the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves.

Dr. Ahmad the Philo-Semite has also said that the Jews are:

Parasites

Vengeful

Malicious

Diabolical

Conspirators

Inferior to Muslims

Being punished by Allah

Facing extermination at the hands of Allah

Controlling the United States through the banking system

But he’s not a Jew-hater. He’s just stating plain, simple, self-evident facts.

A fundamentalist Pakistani preacher, taken off the air by VisionTV this week in response to complaints, defended his beliefs about Jews yesterday but denied he was a hatemonger.

Asked to respond to VisionTV’s decision to ban him from the multi-faith religious channel, Israr Ahmad “strongly refuted the impression that he hated the Jews or he held anti-Semitic views.”

But the written statement, issued by his personal secretary in Lahore, went on to explain Mr. Ahmad’s belief that the Holocaust was “Divine punishment” and that Jews would one day be “exterminated.”

The Canadian channel is to begin airing an apology today for repeatedly broadcasting lectures by Mr. Ahmad, whose writings are filled with derogatory comments about Jews.

- - - - - - - - - -

While VisionTV did not broadcast Mr. Ahmad’s theories of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, it has been airing his Koranic readings for several years, including a recent episode in which he said Muslims were required to either fight jihad on the battlefield or finance it.

[…]

In his books, he compares Jews to “parasites,” calls them “revengeful,” “malicious,” and “diabolical,” and says they have a “deeply ingrained tendency to conspire.” A sample of his writings: — “It is gratifying to learn that we Muslims enjoy two-fold superiority over the Jews.” — “It is apparent to any careful observer that the Jews have continued to suffer the floggings of Divine punishment in the present century — the Holocaust during the Second World War being a case in point.” — “Moreover, as mentioned before, the conflict between the Jews and Muslims is going to result, ultimately, in the total extermination of the former, according to the Divine law of ‘annihilation of the worse.’ “ — “The ‘Supreme Power’ of our time — the United States of America — is practically in the tight grip of a small Jewish minority, who is able to exert an immense amount of control over its international policies.” — “More importantly, the global financial system is virtually in the hands of Jewish bankers, who, through the institution of usury, have become powerful enough to command the obedience of entire governments.”

He also has unkind words for what he calls the “prejudice and intolerance” of Hindus. And he dismisses Christianity, saying “there is hardly any thing in this religion that can be described as ‘Christian.’“

The Counterjihad Calendar has flipped over to March, which features Germany.When I think of German architecture, either the Brandenburg Gate or Mad Ludwig’s castle in Bavaria come to mind. And let’s face it, the Brandenburg Gate makes for better propaganda than Mad Ludwig.

So I chose the Brandenburg Gate as the iconic monument for Germany (click for a larger image).

Here’s the list of German Counterjihad websites that I have collected so far (thanks, LN):

Once again, the twelve countries I will be using for the 2008 calendar are:

France

Denmark

Germany

India

Sweden

Italy

The U.S.A.

Greece

Britain

Australia

The Netherlands

Spain

For each country involved, I invite readers to post suggested counterjihad links in the comments, or send them via email. I particularly need links for the Netherlands, Britain, Greece, India, and Italy.

Next up (for April): India. I’m using English for India, since a) I don’t know the Hindi for “enough!” and b) I’m not sure that Hindi is the appropriate common language to use for India.

In 2006, the City Council and the mayor passed a city ordinance to stop damage being caused by the massive influx of illegal immigrants. The flood of poverty-stricken non-citizens with no stake in the town was destroying Hazelton’s infrastructure. So the town fathers and mothers moved to build a legal dike against the intruders, who brought crime, heavy hospital costs, and a general disregard for the notion of law and order. They have done the same in towns up and down the state of California, causing native citizens to simply abandon ship and move to other states.

With the new laws in place, Hazelton immediately saw a change for the better:

Business owners who employed illegal immigrants or property owners who rented apartments (or homes) to illegal immigrants would be hit with a stiff fine. All city business was to be conducted in English…and only in English.

[…]

[The mayor said] “It’s been incredible. We have literally seen people loading up mattresses and furniture and leaving the city en masse,” he said. “That was our goal, to have a city of legal immigrants who are all paying taxes. It’s already been effective.”

Imagine that. Wanting a city of residents who paid their way for the services provided. A generation ago, this story would not have made sense. Our parents and grandparents would have been scratching their heads in puzzlement: “what, you have people who want services but don’t pay taxes? We call them deadbeats.”- - - - - - - - - -So inevitably, the legal suits against the city started. This kind of action is a good way to intimidate, to extort, and to browbeat into submission any community which dares to stand up for its own survival. Better people should just give up their lives and property and move on, leaving the territory to the outlaws to trash and plunder.

Now the higher court in Allentown has ruled:

A federal judge on Thursday struck down the city of Hazleton’s tough anti-immigration law, ruling unconstitutional a measure that has been copied around the country.

The city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act sought to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. Another measure would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.

U.S. District Judge James Munley voided the law Thursday based on testimony from a nine-day trial held in March.

The city will almost certainly appeal.

Yes, and the citizens of Hazelton will be forced to shell out even more in legal fees in a valiant effort to keep their town an American city instead of a lawless barrio.

Hazleton’s Republican mayor pushed for the strict laws last summer after two illegal immigrants were charged in a fatal shooting. Mayor Lou Barletta argued that illegal immigrants brought drugs, crime and gangs to the city of more than 30,000, overwhelming police and schools.

Immigrant groups sued, saying the laws usurp the federal government’s exclusive power to regulate immigration, deprive residents of their constitutional rights to equal protection, and violate state and federal housing law.

But we all know the federal government’s (?deliberate) inability to “regulate” immigration. And what constitutional rights do people who have come to this country illegally, who are not citizens, who do not pay taxes…what rights are in what statute protecting them from the normal consequences of being scoff-laws? The responsibilities which correspond with these “rights” are not even on the table for discussion.

Remember the town of Herouxville in Quebec? They dared to set standards. They required that new citizens assimilate to them, rather than vice versa. They wanted their customs and way of life respected by newcomers. Communities do not develop haphazardly. They grow organically, and the better they are, the more sense of place and identity they possess. All of which provides space for “the heart at home.” Without that, we become rootless and diminished:

The citizens in the Town of Herouxville, Quebec for over a century have enjoyed a quality of life in peaceful beautiful rural pastoral settings, with clean crisp air, country roads, farmers markets, country stores, community events, music, dances, festivals and celebrations, complete with old homesteads and ranches, rolling hills, bow hunting and fly fisherman’s paradise with unspoiled crystal clear lakes and streams, reminiscent of memorable times past in what some describe as a Andy Griffith Mayberry County style existence, a naturalist’s and artist’s dream. Hokey as it may sound, it is true in most respects of most rural Canadian and American small towns everywhere, a safe and peaceful community with minimal crime, hard working, church going people, who are quick to smile and laugh as well as help one in need. As a Town we are a close knit neighbourly community who cherish our longstanding values, morals and traditions which have maintained us in a way of life envied by many crime ridden, traffic congested cities where most citizens live side by side with others for years and yet never congregate, support or get to know their neighbours and get involved in their communities.

Granted our Town Charter drafted with the assistance of our townsfolk has been portrayed by some as racist. The Citizens of Herouxville are extremely upset by this comment as it is contrary to our Christian values and would like to emphatically state nothing could be further from the truth. As Quebecois Canadians we are only stating to the world informing them of our way of life is vitally important to us, much like the way of life amongst other cultures is important to them. For us to change our ways and tradition to accommodate others who wish to live here is like asking our country’s respected founding First Nation’s Culture to incorporate Dutch traditions and wear wooden shoes and erect Windmills in their community.

No doubt the pomo intellectuals unfortunate enough to ever have been born there fled Herouxville as soon as they were able to get the bus fare. Those who stay want to be there. And they want others to come and enjoy what they have worked so hard to build.

Since when did it become illegal and immoral to demand limits and accountability of those who wish to become citizens?

California has been trashed by those who have no investment in its welfare and future. It sounds like the same process is beginning in Pennsylvania, with the help of liberal advocates who want to re-live the do-good moral superiority of the 1960’s, while they leave tragedy in their wake.

Not to mention a national government bent on destroying the foundations of federalism.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

The noted blogger Fjordman is filing this report via Gates of Vienna.For a complete Fjordman blogography, see The Fjordman Files. There is also a multi-index listing here.

Is French President Nicolas Sarkozy a passionate Eurabian? Leading the EU to surrender for Libya, he now proposes exporting French nuclear technology to Libya, after the Libyans have themselves admitted that they recently had a nuclear weapons program. Libyan Leader Gaddafi has announced that one day the Islam will disseminate its power over the European countries. According to him, the riots in the suburbs of Paris in 2005 were “only the beginning of the armed struggle of the Muslims against discrimination in Europe. Probably one day Europe will be subordinated to Islam.” But the French president wants to give him nuclear technology. Nice move, Mr. Sarkozy:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised to boost relations with long-isolated Libya as he met with the oil-rich country’s leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday as a reward for releasing six Bulgarian medical workers.

[…]

France and Libya “affirm their desire to give new momentum to bilateral relations, and to build a strategic partnership between the two countries,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

The countries agreed to boost cooperation on areas including fighting terrorism, research, education, the economy and migration...

One agreement touched on defense cooperation, and in another memo, leaders pledged to work together on “peaceful applications for nuclear energy,” the statement said.

Sarkozy has said that he wants the countries ringing the Mediterranean — Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco — to form a council and hold regular summit meetings under a rotating presidency.

He wants to anchor regional cooperation in the fields of energy, security, counter-terrorism and immigration on a trade agreement, and create a Mediterranean Investment Bank, modeled on the European Investment Bank, that would help develop the economies on the eastern and southern edge of the region. He has offered French expertise on nuclear energy in return for access to North Africa’s gas reserves.

“The time has come to build together a Mediterranean Union that will be the bridge between Europe and Africa,” Sarkozy said in his victory speech Sunday.

The president is leaving for the Maghreb today with the goal of defending one of his main diplomatic projects, the Mediterranean Union. He believes “the future of Europe and France is decided also, and perhaps first of all, in the Mediterranean”…

“We are entering a new era of the relations between Libya and the EU,” said EU foreign affairs and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

[…]

Ms Ferrero-Waldner said she had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Libyan authorities, which mapped out ways of upgrading EU-Libyan ties saying relations will eventually go “into some sort of specific... agreement.”

With the new relationship, Libya can look forward to better access to the EU market for Libyan goods, funding for restoration of potential tourist sites, better visa facilitation for Libyans, scholarships for students and help to deal with the illegal immigration going through Libya towards Europe.

[…]

Libya is the only country in the region that is not a member of the bloc’s 11-year old Euro-Mediterranean — which covers all other countries around the sea – or in the EU’s ‘European Neighbourhood Policy’ under which states on the bloc’s southern and eastern borders receive financial aid for political and economic reform.

Relations between Brussels and Tripoli improved slowly after Libya abandoned a plan for nuclear weapons and in 2003 handed over two nationals accused for the 1988 bombing of an American Airlines plane over Lockerbie, Scotland.

On Monday I wrote about Lars Vilks, whose drawings of Mohammed as a dog caused a hasty censorship at an art exhibition in Sweden.

Here’s another drawing — also of Mohammed as a Rondellhund — that was removed from public display:

All of the offensive and blasphemous drawings are now posted at the artist’s website.

The third one in the series contains elements that might be controversial even to non-Muslims, so I am not displaying it here, but it is posted at Mr. Vilks’ site if you want to see it. My linking to him does not imply any endorsement or approval of his subject matter and opinions.

One of my Swedish contacts wrote to me last night concerning the Modoggie affair:

The Swedish media are competing for coverage of this incident in almost total silence.

The problem for the Swedes here is that Vilks is a renowned artist — not a simple cartoonist.

Ah, those simple Danish cartoonists! So easy to disregard.

My Swedish is not good enough for me to decipher what Lars Vilks has to say about all this. Those of you who can read Swedish are advised to go over to his site and keep scrolling.

Yesterday I reported on a young woman named Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, who is a candidate for the Danish Parliament. She stated in an interview that she considered Danish soldiers to be legitimate targets for insurgents in Iraq who are “resisting occupation”.

Needless to say, the average Dane is not happy about Asmaa. As we all know, there is a vigorous Counterjihad in Denmark, with no shortage of enterprising photoshoppers ready to create iconic images. Here’s one from the Danish blog Islamofascisme:

The caption reads, “A vote for Asmaa is a vote for Al Qaeda.” On the lower right is the logo and name of her political party, Enhedslisten. Go over to Islamofascisme for a much larger version.

Last night I received an email from one of my Danish contacts:- - - - - - - - - -

There is a huge understandable anger against her — the problem is, she is a moral traitor and fifth columnist, in a moral sense.

In court she probably couldn’t be convicted. But there’ll be lots of chances in the near future.

She militant, young and ignorant. Yesterday she spoke out for polygamy, although today she denies it. She is a constitutional liar — but one shouldn’t pull the trigger, before we have a sure hit. As is the case with the fatwa imams. Their time will come.

I know — between us — that Dansk Folkeparti [the Danish People’s Party] wants her in the Folketing [the Parliament]. No wonder.

As an earlier commenter said, “You just have to wait. They’ll do something stupid; they always do. They can’t help themselves.”

Answer A: In political terms, the Justice and Development (AK) party which won 47 percent of the votes in Turkey’s July 22 elections and will have almost two-thirds of the parliament seats is a pragmatic, conservative, business-oriented moderate party despite its roots as an Islamic-oriented one.

Answer B: In societal terms, the Justice and Development (AK) party is probably transforming Turkey from a secular into a more Islamic society, with a big effect on the status of women, the situation of minorities, and Turkey’s foreign policy.

If the Democrats in our country have their way and the war in Iraq is aborted quickly, Turkey will be front and center in the daily news. Leaving aside Iran’s plans for the moment, you can expect a quick invasion of northern Iraq by the Turkish army and a repression of the Kurds. Given the legendary Peshmerga fighters, it will be a bloody, bitter, and prolonged conflict. Given the outlaw nature of the Kurdish PKK, deemed a terrorist organization, and its clandestine profile in Turkey, northern Iraq and in the Kurdish section of Iran, expect the worst: a lot of civilian deaths and what Turkey will see as valid incursions by their army into the Kurdish areas. Attempting to negotiate anything will be futile, though one can expect the perfidious French to make such noises.- - - - - - - - - -At American Thinker James Lewis’ “Turkey Betrayed Again” might be more appropriately titled “France’s Envy and Hatred Continues to Cause World-Wide Problems.”

Looking at the results of the election, Mr. Lewis is rightly worried about the growing fundamentalist Islamism in Turkey. It has been a political fact since Turkey’s inception as a nation-state after World War I. Ataturk was genius enough to hold the Islamists at bay - e.g., he forbid the fez, had the Koran published in Turkish, developed a Turkish alphabet, severely curtailed the traditional garb for Muslim women, etc. It was he who dragged Turkey closer to the western world, but as much as Turkey and the world needs such a man, we will not see his like again.

Mr. Rubin says that the Islamic conservative base of the AK party remains to be seen:

The party got rid of some of its hardliners and brought in a lot of non-Islamic conservatives and technocrats. It has gone slowly and carefully on making any changes regarding secularism while the economy has improved under its rule (though this probably would have happened any way). Among a lot of intellectuals, it has now become fashionable to embrace the party, ridiculing fears about its intentions.

For America, though, Turkey has caused serious problems and cannot be considered trustworthy. Its relationship with France and hopes for admission into the EU led it to renege on its promise to allow the US to invade Iraq from the north, as was originally planned.

Meanwhile, as Mr. Lewis points out, France continued its cynical con game. Not only did the US get shafted by France (via Turkey’s refusal to let us have a base there), but Turkey was left holding the short end of the stick:

Modernists are feeling desperate. They have gambled and lost at least three important battles: First, they placed their hopes on the United States and the Atlantic alliance. That strengthened their domestic position until 9/11/01. Then they placed their hopes on the European Union. When the United States knocked out Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Turks voted to block the US Fourth Army Corps from invading Iraq from the North. They were egged on by Jacques Chirac and his Euro-imperialist ally Dominique de Villepin (now facing their day in court over corruption and forgery charges).

Chirac and Villepin ambushed Colin Powell at the United Nations, whipped up an anti-American hate campaign in Europe, and helped to block America’s move to attack Saddam from the north. As a result, Saddam’s Baath Party was given enough time to organize a resistance, and to tie down American troops in the war we see today. Without French sabotage, the Iraq war might have been over by now. It didn’t help that the French gave EU passports to Saddam’s fleeing generals, who promptly disappeared somewhere in Europe to carry on sabotage of American efforts.

Mr. Lewis notes that Turkey thought its betrayal of the US would be the leverage it needed into the EU, but the latter, now brimming with angry Islamists, is wary of what these election returns mean. Besides, the long shadow of the Ottoman Empire still lies over Eastern Europe. They aren’t likely to accede to Turkey’s partnership, no matter what party is in power.

Turkey will be a major player if we pull out precipitously from Iraq. Don’t underestimate the damage it will do in the north.